JWfan Generations

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

As I see it we have 4 distinct generations of Williams fans here. It would be nice to speculate what score or scores pushed them into Williams fandom.

The 70's

People in their teens during the 70's would have witnesses the birth of the Maestro's blockbuster career. Scores like Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters would have been the ones that this generations would have reacted to the strongest.

The 70's

The Spielberg decade. John Williams and Spielberg basically dictated the (orchestral) sound of that decade. Raiders, TOD but especially E.T. woud have had teens sit up and take notice.

The 90's

My decade. If there is a single score responsible for getting people of around my age group interested in JW it HAS to be Jurassic Park! The right score, attached to the right film at the right time. Journey To The Islans alone might be responsible for more JWfans then any other track in the 90's.

The noughties

Has to be Harry Potter and the Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone.

While not quite setting the tone of the decade, it's the closest thing JW did in the 2000's to a monster hit ala JP or E.T.

The 10's

Too early to say.

[Faleel 5,352]

I didn't grow up in the 70's but Star Wars was the score that got me into Williams, and is the sound I prefer (I love analogue)

[LaloCoyoacan 46]

I born in 1977, the year Star Wars came out, and to be precisely 7 days before it premiered (may 18th). And without any doubt it's the score that introduced me to John Williams

[crocodile 8,017]

Jurassic Park, Hook (as well as Elfman's Batman Returns) are the first films where I spotted film music and re-watched them specifically for that reason. Then SW Special Edition and The Lost World, which both kicked off my JW collecting habit.

However my first ever soundtrack was The Lion King. So that technically speaking makes me a Zimmerite!

Karol

[Thor 7,508]

I born in 1977, the year Star Wars came out, and to be precisely 7 days before it premiered (may 18th). And without any doubt it's the score that introduced me to John Williams

I was born in 1977 too, but like Stefan it's the 90's I connect to the most in terms of Williams' music.

[Brónach 1,302]

I must have noticed JW's music at a very young age. Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Harry Potter. I remember knowing these (the main themes). I specifically remember being at school break humming the adventure theme from JP, but wrong (inverting the rythm of the first two notes). I also remember finding the "simplicity" of the Raiders March funny (?) and mentally associating it with the flood scene from TOD for some reason. With Harry Potter I was nine to ten years old when it came out. I don't remember how I reacted to the music (but I suppose I liked it). By the time of Azkaban I really noticed the music and the different themes a lot.

[Wojo 2,453]

As I see it we have 4 distinct generations of Williams fans here. It would be nice to speculate what score or scores pushed them into Williams fandom.

The 70's

People in their teens during the 70's would have witnesses the birth of the Maestro's blockbuster career. Scores like Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters would have been the ones that this generations would have reacted to the strongest.

The 70's

The Spielberg decade. John Williams and Spielberg basically dictated the (orchestral) sound of that decade. Raiders, TOD but especially E.T. woud have had teens sit up and take notice.

The 90's

My decade. If there is a single score responsible for getting people of around my age group interested in JW it HAS to be Jurassic Park! The right score, attached to the right film at the right time. Journey To The Islans alone might be responsible for more JWfans then any other track in the 90's.

The noughties

Has to be Harry Potter and the Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone.

While not quite setting the tone of the decade, it's the closest thing JW did in the 2000's to a monster hit ala JP or E.T.

The 10's

Too early to say.

I grew up in the second 70's.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

I'm like Faleel; not born in the '70s, but it was definitely classic Star Wars music that first captured my interest.

[Alan 689]

Jurassic Park is my earliest cinema memory and it got me interested in film music but it was really his late 70s early 80s work that really captured me.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Potter for me. That, plus LotR and Gladiator were the scores that drew me into film music.

I clearly remember walking out of Fellowship just thinking 'wow'. A huge part of that was the music.

(Born in 1985, but my musical tastes were still forming around the millennium)

[Datameister 2,044]

I was a ten in the noughties, but it was Star Wars that kicked it all off for me.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Shit, second movie I ever remember seeing in a theater was Hook. I actually remember the end sword fight and the music. That's how good it was.

[scallenger 483]

Jurassic Park, by far, was what got me interested in film music. However, I noticed liking other film scores around the same time at a very young age, and ALWAYS wanted to listen to the music once the end credits played (even though my parents would usually turn it off too soon): Hook, Gremlins, and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. I think all of those combined really shaped at least my expectations for the kind of music I got into with films. My taste has since matured a bit to appreciate other types of scores besides these BIG and/or unique kind of works. So i'm definitely 90s with a bit of late 80s thrown in for good measure.

[JamieC 13]

This is a nice discussion thread.

Well, my entire life has truly been tracked by John Williams' music. I was born in 1972 and so you can imagine what it was like to be five years old and hear the Star Wars music for the first time when I first saw the movie during its original release. Therefore, to be sitting here now with the Lincoln music playing makes for quite a sense of a journey taken.

JC

[filmmusic 1,829]

I was born in 1980.

I don't remember which was the first Williams scored film that caught my attention but it was either E.T., or Star Wars, or Superman, or Indiana Jones. (I'm not sure which I saw first from these - on TV of course)

Probably Star Wars. I especially noticed the militaristic version of the Force Theme in the Throne Room cue, and had recorded the music from VHS to a cassette. (also had recorded in that cassette the opening of Superman, and end credits of E.T.)

However, the first Williams score I've heard as a soundtrack album was Hook (transfered from LP to cassette) (also I think it was the 2nd soudntrack I had ever heard - 1st one was Kilar's Dracula), and the first Williams scored film I saw at the cinema was Jurassic Park

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

While I was born in the early 70's, and watched several of the films that so many love from the late 70's and 80's, and in the process fell in love with the music of John Williams through them, the period in Williams output that I really connect with is from the mid to late 90's on -- minus the Harry Potter stuff, which I not that much of a fan, even if I still find them to be great amazing scores.

It's not that I don't like whatever came before, all of which I also love to listen to, but this later period of Williams output has something that makes it more special to me.

[JamieC 13]

The first JW soundtrack I ever bought was Return of the Jedi (from our local Woolworth's store)...on audiotape in 1983 and the second was the Temple of Doom ost on audiotape in 1984. A year or two later I traded, with a boy at school, a Star Wars figure that I had two of for the audiotape of the ET soundtrack. Then, in the summer of 1987 a friend of mine had The Witches of Eastwick on vinyl which his dad got for him on business in America that summer. It was all very exotic for a boy such as myself growing up in southwest London. I haven't recollected these little 'major' moments in a while.

JC

[Trent B 337]

I was born in 1981 but The Empire Strikes Back is what drew me into Williams' music.

[publicist 4,643]

Born late 70's but interested earlier than JURASSIC PARK...tv showings of JAWS and STAR WARS in 1989 did the trick. So it's a late feedback from the 70's.

[STORM 1]

Born in 69,but empire was the first williams score i got into,quickly followed by loads more,70s and 80s my fav williams era not surprising.

[Melange 446]

Born in the early 70s.

Once into the early 80s, my decade really, there was plenty of exposure to his 70s work through repeated showings of CEO3K, Jaws, Star Wars, Superman and others ( I clearly remember running around the primary school playground with shirt undone and flapping in the breeze to emulate 'cape', one arm extended outwards and reciting the Superman march in a lame portrayal of 'flying', just as every other Boy did at the time ). Empire Strikes Back I remember seeing in the cinema, and got into toy collection.

E.T was where his music had really touched me, in 1982. E.T was my 'Jurassic Park' moment.

At that time, at age 8 I was a fanatic of absolutely everything E.T, in the same way that kids in the early 90s went crazy about all things 'Dino' due to merchandise and spin off from Jurassic Park. I had E.T Pencils, E.T Notebooks, E.T Cuddly Toys ( I know that E.T isn't cuddly at all, but hey....I still have that toy somewhere and will post a photo ). At school there was also plenty of communal repetitions of the E.T theme by voice, but it was quite a number of years later that I actually obtained the music itself.

I'm not sure I saw Raiders in the cinema, but do remember watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the cinema. TOD music took pride of place in school emulations of themes, as with the other films.

Return of the Jedi came later.

All through this I never knew that it was the same person who composed all those themes, and I didn't particularly register his name till long after. It wasn't like now where you can go online and get a picture of 'John Williams'. It seems mad now not to have been conscious that it was the same composer, but who cares I suppose. All that mattered was the music.

It seems there is a big gap from Return of the Jedi up till 1993, where I recall a lot of my focus shifted towards the work of composers like Horner and Goldsmith, because of the sort of films I was watching at that age. Rambo II, Robocop, Aliens, Alien, Terminator 1 & II, all the typical 'teen action' films of the time. Scores by Horner also featured in the 80s, after seeing Wrath of Khan in the cinema etc.

My JW 'revival' as such, was like others here with Jurassic Park in 1993. I think I'd learned prior to this at some point that the same guy had composed all these great scores I'd emulated at school, but it was only at this stage (yes, really) that I set about building up a collection of his music on CD, the new media at the time. If I owned soundtrack music prior to this, it was on Vinyl or on Cassette by other composers.

I was now 19, had a full time job and was earning an hourly rate way beyond my immediate need so I had lots of disposable income that I spent on CDs and VHS. Mr Williams' work began to build up as a collection at last, rather than just in my head.

Jurassic Park was like a repeat of the mania that accompanied my love of the movie E.T, but this time only in regard to the music alone. 'Journey to the Island' knocked my socks off in the cinema, and Schindler's List coming later was a work that immediately grabbed me.

I was never really into the Harry Potter movies and don't recall seeing any of them them in the cinema, although somewhere along the line I did hear the scores, liked them and have the first three scores though don't listen to them very often.

I realised later that through the years I'd seen several of the earlier 70s films he'd scored, like Black Sunday, the Towering Inferno and the Eiger Sanction and must have heard the scores, but again didn't know all were by Williams.

I know for sure now that through my life so far I've seen more movies that were scored by Jerry Goldsmith, than Williams. I must have seen so many of the movies he scored in the 70s, on TV, early on and through the years. But again, it was just a name with no face to it.

[Ren 75]

i have adored music all my life, but i honestly can't say that JWs music INFLUENCED me when i was young - the 90s music is what drew me into the music education chasm. Of course I listened to all the 80s and famous SW stuff etc. I soundtracked my child's play with it - but for actually knowing about the scores, understanding them and wanting to own them, i didn't do it until the 90s

[wanner251 17]

Melange, your story is nearly identical to mine, only I was born in early '78. How strange! I don't need to rehash it at all.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Can we generate horoscopes based on these groupings? I'd really like to know which of us are destined to meet new people who will cause change in our lives and which of us are destined to get a hemorrhoid today.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Born in 1990; seeing Jurassic Park in the theater is my earliest memory of anything, but the music didn't really make it's impact until the mid to late 90s, where films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, The Rock, GoldenEye, and The Fifth Element were always playing in my house. That was the stage where I was deeply invested in films and around 2002 with The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones, Signs, and Spider-Man, is when I started to become fully aware of the music and started buying everything I could by Williams, Elfman, and Howard.

[Quintus 5,399]

The nineties and Jurassic Park introduced me directly, but I actually prefer his previous decades, where I became very much aware of the music without ever knowing the man behind it - there are audio tapes of me 'singing' the Superman theme, Raiders, ET and Star Wars when I was about 8 years old. I can even be heard picking out the orchestration

[BloodBoal 7,538]

there are audio tapes of me 'singing' the Superman theme, Raiders, ET and Star Wars when I was about 8 years old. I can even be heard picking out the orchestration

God, I hope one of the labels will manage to get their hands on them and release them!

[Quintus 5,399]

It'd be a dilemma for Thor!

[SF1_freeze 131]

I belong between 90's and noughties.

My love for filmmusic began with TPM in 1999 which was my first soundtrack album. Nevertheless i saw many JW films on TV before 1999 and was subconsciously deeply moved by the music (ET, Jurassic Park, Raiders). I just didn't know shit about JW nor film music back then.

I started lurking on this board in anticipation of RotS around 2004/05.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

I was listening to JW in the late 60s/early 70s through TV, such as Lost In Space, Time Tunnel, and Land Of The Giants. The score that got me hooked on JW, though, was The Towering Inferno, which I heard in 1975 (actually, I bought both TTI, Earthquake, and Planet of The Apes within 3 weeks of each other. Talk about starting at the top!). It was love at first sight (in a manner of speaking) and it started a love-affair that has lsated to this very day!

In terms of age, I would hazzard a guess that Mark O. and myself are the oldest posters.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

And maybe Joey.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

My first soundtracks were Last Crusade, Jurassic Park and Star Wars Anthology. The first time I ever considered the music outside of the film was at Disney-MGM Studios in front of Star Tours and Indiana Jones where they played music from the scores. It was like, "Wait, I'm not watching the movie and this is awesome."

Earliest JW-scored films I saw were Hook, the Home Alones, E.T., the Star Wars Trilogy and Jurassic Park.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

90's Jurassic Park.

[Delorean90 42]

I was born in '90, but I think the trinity of music awareness for me was Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Seeing those and loving the music in each got me going. I remember Jurassic Park being a point for both my dad and I, where we both mentioned the music and were wondering if it was the same composer behind Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and lo and behold, there it was: Music by John Williams. But it all grew out of those first three, watching them with my dad.

[Melange 446]

there are audio tapes of me 'singing' the Superman theme, Raiders, ET and Star Wars when I was about 8 years old. I can even be heard picking out the orchestration

Do get in contact with Mr Neil S Bulk. I keenly await - "The Lost Years" Box set.

Melange, your story is nearly identical to mine, only I was born in early '78.

How strange! I don't need to rehash it at all.

Your are the Brother I never had (although I do have a brother, but let's not ruin this )

[Jonesy 55]

My first Williams' scores were Star Wars (all) and the three Potter.

[Uni 306]

Interesting, your idea of "generations" here. I was going to object that you're really outlining four of the five major stages of Williams' work (the first, obviously, being his early scores), rather than different generations of listeners. But the more I've thought on it—and the more I've read on this thread—the more I see that this makes some sense if you're talking about the foundation of each person's JW fanship. In this situation, for instance, we see people born in the 60s or 70s who didn't pay any real attention to his music until the Harry Potter films made them sit up. That's a factor worth noting.

In the extended bit of history I wrote in the Empire Strikes Back thread, I spoke of how film music worked its way into my consciousness early in my life. While other sources had some influence on this (I referenced Battlestar Galactica there as well), there's no denying the cornerstone that Star Wars was in that architecture. But here's the wild card: I was a JW whistler long before I was a collector. It wasn't until certain interesting events brought film score albums to my attention in the mid to late 80s that I started assembling the early staples of what's become my treasure hoard.

So which "generation" do I qualify for? I'd have to say the 70s without hesitation. I may not have had the cassettes or LP's for Star Wars, Close Encounters, and Superman on my shelf yet, but I knew that music just as intimately as if I did. That's where it all started for me.

- Uni

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

While Jurassic Park cemented it for me, I had already grown a great fondness for scores like Jaws and Star Wars. So I understand it is impossible to categorize everyone exactly.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I was listening to JW in the late 60s/early 70s through TV, such as Lost In Space, Time Tunnel, and Land Of The Giants. The score that got me hooked on JW, though, was The Towering Inferno, which I heard in 1975 (actually, I bought both TTI, Earthquake, and Planet of The Apes within 3 weeks of each other. Talk about starting at the top!). It was love at first sight (in a manner of speaking) and it started a love-affair that has lsated to this very day!

In terms of age, I would hazzard a guess that Mark O. and myself are the oldest posters.

I was listening to Johnny Williams in the early and mid sixties, so you are a younger poster from my vantage.

I first noticed the name Johnny on Gilligan's Islands and then Lost In Space. I was hooked from that mid September night when I first watched Lost In Space. Some how from the age of 4 and 5 I was connecting to movie soundtracks. My first Albums were Cinderella and Mary Poppins. My first 45 was What's New Pussy Cat by Tom Jones.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Born in '85 but I'd been hearing Williams music since the cot, so I can't credit Jurassic Park for my interest.

[ManofDestiny 71]

Just wondering, where are the 80's?

[Cantus Venti 13]

I was a teen during the 00s, and I can't really stand modern film music. I personally think I'm too critical of a listener far beyond my capability, but Williams transcends all these modern guys and he's a critical listener himself for being able to organize diverse styles into rich unparelleled compositions. It's all about E.T.

I'm more of a romantic era fan myself anyway, yet Williams is my favorite. Any of his scores please.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Including "Images"?

[indy4 155]

It was By Request that did it for me, although TPM was the first JW CD I owned and I liked it very much.

[nightscape94 965]

I was a child in the 80s, grew up on a heavy regiment of Raiders, Superman and Star Wars, so I would technically have to pinpoint that era as what drove my imaginary fancy. In terms of being aware of Williams as a composer, and of scores in general, the Jurassic Park fanfare on the big reveal for the island is what started it all.

[Mr. K 12]

I was also born in 1977 and was weaned on a steady diet of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Ghostbusters. John Williams is an inescapable part of being an 80's kid. It's part of the soundtrack of our youth. I suppose that makes one slightly biased by the joy of hearing hints of that glorious era in film scoring (not just from JW, but from Goldsmith & Horner too) in film scores today. When JW does a great action piece like the warehouse chase in KOTCS or the opening scene from ROTS, I'm a kid again.

Mr. K

[JoeinAR 1,949]

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